Contour-cap for projectiles.



C. DAVIS.

CONTOUR CAP FOR PROJECTILES.

APPLICATION Fl 0 a 191 N. 5. 1,135,772. Patented Apr. 13, 1915.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GLELAND DAVIS, 01? THE UNITED STATES NAVY, ASSIGNOR TO ORDNANCE DEVEL-OPMENT COMPANY OF AMERICA, OF WILMINGTON. DELAWARE,

OF DELAWARE.

A CORPORATION GONTOIiR-CAP non PROJECTILES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 13, 1915.

Application filed January 18, 1915. Serial No. 2,982.

To all whom it may rum-rm lie it known that I, CLELAND 1)A\'1S,commander, United States Navy, a citizen of the United States, stationedat San Diego, in the county of San Diego and State of California, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Contour-Gaps forProjectiles; and 1 do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention. such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. Mypresent invention relates to improve ments in contour caps forprojectiles. and it is intended to provide a hood of such a character asto give the form or contour to the nose of the shell that is bestadapted to a minimum resistance of the projectile in its flight throughthe air, thus causing it to have a greater range, a flatter trajectory,a greater danger space, and a greater linal velocity.

'The advantages of the long pointed shell have long been recognized byordnance engineers and the principle has been applied to small arms,bullets, and to armor piercing shell, as described in my Patent No.

945,492. granted January 4. 1912, and en titled Contour cap forprojectiles: but cer tain requirements of design have limited itsapplication in non-armor piercing projectiles. These 'limitations aredue to the fact that when the point is drawn out to a com parativelylong radius of ogival, the balance of the shell is disturbed with theresult that it wobbles in flight, and hence is not accurate. Bylengthening the point, too, the weight is increased, which reduces theballistic efficiency of the gun, there being a definite weight of shellfor each caliber of gun which may not be increased without reducing themuzzle velocity or increasing the powder pressure in the bore. Bylengthening the point of the shell. also, its capacity for carrying abursting charge, a most important desideratum in the design of shell, isdecreased. ,All of these consideratimis have limited the designers ofshell in the application of the long pointed principle.

W'hat l I OPOSB to prov de. a hood of material of r specific gravity,such as soft rubber, wii ch may be vulcanized to, or otherwise connectedto the forward portion of the projectile. In order to give sufficientrigidity to this hood during flight, and also may be applied if desired.

to protect it against injury incidental to the shock of discharge, oragainst being detormed in the ordinary handling, this hood may be, onall but the small size of proectiles. wrapped with cord, or steel wire,or tape.

My invention will be understood by reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 1 shows a projectile fitted with an improvedrubber hood. wound with metal tape; Fig. 2 shows a similar hood with themetal tape omitted; and Fig. 3 shows the hood applied to the nose of anordinary rifle bullet. Figs. 2 and 3 are shown partly in sectionand'partly in elevation; and in Fig. 1 parts are broken away.

In Figs. 1 and A represents the body of the projectile which is providedwith any suitable nose A. preferably of the ordinary ogival form. andonto this the soft rubber cap B is attached in any convenient way, as byvulcan zing the rubber to the nose of the projectile. as indicated at 7)in Fig. 2. Outside of this rubber cap a winding or wire tape, or cord,such as 0, shown in Fig. 1, Instead of this reinforcing winding, therubber cap may have its exterior vulcanized or hardened to a sullicientdepth to maintain the requisite rigidity of the shape of said cap.

In the form of device shown in Fig. 3, an ordinary metal bullet D isprovided. with a suitable nose l) to which is vulcanized as at I), therubber cap B, which cap is of such shape as" to give the proper contourto the surface of the projectile opposed to the resistance of the air.The exterior of this rubber cap may be vulcanized to give stiffness tosame, if desired. W'hile I prefer to vulcani'ze the rubber direct to themetal nose of the projectile. it may be attached thereto in any otherconvenient way.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States is l. A contour cap for projectiles,compris ing a solid yielding rubber cap secured to the nose of theprojectile, substantially as described.

2. A contour cap for projectiles. rompris ing a solid yieldingrubber capvul'anized to the noseof the projectile. substantially as described.

.\ contour cap for projectiles. compriscopies of this patent may beobtained for five ing a rubber cap secured to the nose of theprojectile, and provided with a reinforcing winding thereon,substantially as described. 4. A'contour cap for projectiles, comprising a rubber cap vulcanized to the nose of the projectile, and providedwith a reinforcing winding thereon, substantially as described. 5. Acontour cap for projectiles, con1prising a rutber cap secured to thenose of the projectile, and provided With a metallic winding on theexterior thereof, substantially as described.

cents each, by address! 6. A contour cap for projectiles, comprising arubber cap vulcanized to th the projectile, and provided with a metallicwinding on the exterior thereof, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature,

m presence of two Witnesses.

CLELAND DAVIS.

\Vitnesses Gnonon P. PITKIN, P. K. CooNs.

g the "Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C."

e nose of 15

